Environmental groups to sue U.S. over caribou habitat decision

SPOKANE — Environmental groups will sue the
federal government over its decision to cut more than 90 percent of the
land originally proposed as critical habitat for the last mountain
caribou herd in the Lower 48 states.

That decision came after an outcry from some politicians
and snowmobile advocates, who complained that too much land was being
set aside to help a small number of caribou.

While there are large
herds in Canada, the mountain caribou in the U.S. is limited to a small
corner of northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. The animals face
conflicts with humans over road construction and snowmobile recreation.

"This
reduction in protected habitat is a death sentence for mountain caribou
in the United States," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director
at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups
that filed an intent to sue notice on Thursday.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service's decision ignored the science and caved to political pressure," he contended.

The
Fish and Wildlife Service had not yet seen the intent to sue and does
not comment on pending litigation, spokeswoman Joan Jewett said
Thursday.

The agency last winter proposed setting aside 375,000
acres in the two states as caribou habitat, an amount that produced an
outcry from recreation groups, loggers and local government officials.
After some contentious public hearings, the agency reduced that total to
30,100 acres in Idaho's Boundary County and Washington's Pend Oreille
County.

In December, the agency also announced that it plans a new
study to determine if the caribou found in Idaho and Washington should
continue to be protected as an endangered species. The Fish and Wildlife
Service said removing them from protection "may be warranted" in
response to a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation and its
clients, Bonner County in Idaho and the Idaho State Snowmobile Association.

Opponents of protection have long contended that the
handful of caribou in Washington and Idaho are just a subset of the
massive herds in British Columbia, and that the animals travel freely
across the border and do not warrant protection. But supporters of the
caribou say they should not be allowed to go extinct in the U.S. because
large numbers exist in Canada.

No one disputes that woodland
caribou are struggling to survive in the U.S. Only four were tallied in
northern Idaho and eastern Washington during an aerial census last
winter. The U.S. population is estimated to total only a few dozen
animals.

Caribou once ranged across many of the northern states,
from the Rocky Mountains to the Northeast, but their numbers were
decimated by habitat loss, poaching, motor vehicle accidents and genetic
problems.

"The Fish and Wildlife Service's cut in critical
habitat will greatly increase the caribou's risk of extinction in the
Lower 48 states," said Jeff Juel, policy director at the Lands Council,
another of the environmental groups.

Mountain caribou have adapted
to harsh winters in deep snow by developing dinner-plate-sized hooves
that work like snowshoes. They can subsist on nothing but arboreal
lichens found on old-growth trees for three to four months.